Count Allessandro Volta.

Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta's father, Filippo, was a minor nobleman of Lombardy, a district in north Italy. He married Maddena dei Conti Inzaghi, who came from another established family of the region. Alessandro seemed dull-witted as a child, not speaking until the age of four. He developed rapidly into a model student, however, and continued classical studies until he was sixteen. He had the command of several languages by then, but he was most strongly attracted to the study of the natural sciences, especially physics, chemistry, and electricity. Volta began publishing scientific papers at the age of twenty-four. While fishing one day on a lake near his home, he noticed bubbles rising to the surface, especially in the shallows and marshes. He began collecting samples of the vapors rising above the bubbles and learned that they comprised a flammable gas. These marsh vapors are now known as methane gas, which is produced when organic material decays. Volta published his findings in what became a widely read scientific paper. Volta was almost fifty when he married Signorina Teresa Peregrini, the youngest daughter of a local nobleman. The couple had three sons: Zanino, Flaminio, and Luigi. Zanino was elected mayor of Como, while Flaminio and Luigi became publishers of a periodical devoted to applied science and industry. Volta's scientific productivity declined significantly, however, once he became a father. While examining the conclusions of Luigi Galvani, who had postulated the existence of "animal electricity," Volta found instead that the natural current seen in this experiment resulted from contact between two dissimilar metals. Volta also observed that current flowed when metal touched some fluids. He learned that the effect could be strengthened when dissimilar metals, such as zinc and silver, were interleaved with moist paper pads. INSET: Count Alessandro Volta.